Why is torque important for off-roading, towing capacity, etc?
In: 4
It comes down to environment:
Premise 1: All engines have torque, we say an engine has a lot of torque when the torque is distributed at a wide range, this means a lot of force down low.
Premise 2: Power focused engine do the opposite, they have the torque, but only high up. It’s good as long as you can keep your engine high up.
So how does it work:
Off road and similars do include continuous and quick changes of environment, rocks, trees, mud. You need to be able to throttle up and down very fast and need to add or remove power in RESPONSE to things.
The opposite, on a road, you plan ahead and all you need is to have power. To have power, you just need an engine that spool high. You set the proper gear in advance, keep the engine revs high and boom, you always have the maximum power available.
Off-road, you may be on a high gear and hit a tree root and you suddenly have to do something, if you shift down, by the time you do it, you gonna be stopped or overwhelmed by the obstacle. But if your engine is designed to have torque, it means that the engine will do a lot of force at ANY speed. The obstacle may have pushed your engine to spool very slowly but it still has the kick to lift itself up if you slam the gas.
That’s the point of torque focused engines. The engine can kick you forward whatever is the gear, speed, and engine revs.
It’s also the main focus for tractors and truck engines.
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